Upon hearing this, Chen Wanyue quickly peeked outside. Once she was sure no one was there, she hurried to shut the door and shot her grandmother a reproachful look.
"Honestly, Grandma! I told you this was a secret, you have to lower your voice. I haven't even told my own parents—I've only told you. I'm risking the wrath of the gods! Grandmother, if not for my sake, then for the sake of our family, you must keep your lips sealed about this."
The old woman was genuinely taken aback and quickly fell silent.
The matter of Wanyue's dreams was a strange one indeed.
A month ago, the girl had gone to the coop to gather eggs when that wretched Shou'an gave her a shove, sending her headfirst into the chicken coop wall.
The coop was made of adobe mixed with a good deal of sand and stone, making it incredibly hard. The blow knocked Wanyue unconscious.
From that day on, it was as if the girl had become possessed, always spouting strange, mystical things.
The three other older family members had to go out to work making flatbreads, so it was usually just the two of them, grandmother and granddaughter, at home. Since her grandmother paid it no mind, no one else took any notice either.
Who would have thought that a few days later, Wanyue would come to her, claiming the gods had sent her a dream: wild boars were going to get into their family's fields.
'Wild boars came down the mountain every year, didn't they?'
Never mind during the autumn harvest; even at other times, wild boars would wander down the mountain whenever they pleased.
After all, their village was situated right at the foot of Xiaoao Mountain. It was just a short jaunt downhill for a wild boar.
The grandmother didn't think much of it, but Wanyue insisted that the boars wouldn't just enter their fields—they would also injure someone there. Specifically, someone from the village's "Big Buckteeth" family.
The Big Buckteeth family was named for the buck teeth passed down through their generations. The members of this family were so lazy they never broke a sweat; they had been dirt-poor for generations.
The reason for their poverty was laziness. And just how lazy were they?
They were so lazy that they would rather let their four acres of perfectly good farmland go to waste and be overrun with weeds than have a single family member work the fields. They got by entirely on scrounging off their neighbors and a bit of petty theft.
As luck would have it, during this year's autumn harvest, the family ran into a wild boar while out stealing. If not for a sudden clap of thunder on a clear day that scared the boar away, the Big Buckteeth family would have been mauled to death.
But while their lives were spared, they had no money to treat their injuries, so the family came to the Chens to extort them for compensation.
The grandmother hadn't taken this prediction seriously, simply dismissing it as a child's nonsense.
But just a few days later, while she was taking a midday nap, there was a genuine crack of thunder from a clear sky.
The sound was so loud it felt like her heart had leaped into her throat.
Her legs still felt weak even after she took a moment to recover. Before she could even get out of bed, her next-door neighbor came rushing over in a panic to tell her that Big Buckteeth and his son had been stealing corn from their field when a wild boar came down the mountain and gored one of them clean through the thigh.
At that moment, her mind went blank; she was scared witless.
From that day forward, the old woman all but worshipped Wanyue. Her granddaughter's word was law; her wish was her command.
It was Wanyue who told her that the marriage to the Zhao family would be detrimental to her, whereas a match with the Li family would bring prosperity not only to Wanyue but to the entire Chen family. That was why she had gone to the eldest branch of the family, half-believing and half-doubting.
But it was no use. Xu Su Ying refused to agree, no matter what!
Seeing her grandmother's hesitation, Chen Wanyue gritted her teeth and decided to lay it on thick.
"Li Cun's prospects are truly better. The gods told me that if anyone from our area is to become a Scholar in the next ten years, it can only be Li Cun."
"Really?"
The old woman's voice trembled. "That boy from the Li family... he can really become a Scholar?"
The old woman's heart pounded wildly, but a sliver of reason remained.
"That Li Cun boy studied under Mr. Zhao in his early years, too. It was only after Mr. Zhao passed away that he and Baoshan transferred to study under Mr. Wu in the county town. Back then, everyone said that when it came to talent and knowledge, the best of their generation was undoubtedly Zhao Jing."
Chen Wanyue put on a pitying expression. "That's what people say, but how much of it is true? You have to remember, Zhao Jing is Mr. Zhao's own son. Couldn't it be that people were just flattering him to show respect for his father?"
"No one except Mr. Zhao himself could say for sure how capable Zhao Jing really is. But Li Cun studies under Mr. Wu, and Mr. Wu himself has declared that Li Cun will one day become a Scholar. Grandmother, please choose Li Cun. Even if it's for the sake of my second and third brothers, you have to help me make this marriage happen."
The old woman was still hesitant. "They say a great reputation isn't built on nothing. Zhao Jing is so renowned; can his knowledge really be a sham? I still have more faith in Zhao Jing! After all, we've watched that boy grow up right before our very eyes. Even if he isn't a natural genius, he's incredibly hardworking. And you know, if a person is willing to put in the effort, there's nothing they can't accomplish."
"I'm not saying Zhao Jing can't pass the examinations, but who knows when that will be? In my dream, even ten years from now, Zhao Jing was still a commoner with no title to his name."
"A commoner? That's impossible! That boy works so hard..."
"What good is hard work? If you have bad luck, all the knowledge in the world is useless."
The old woman sat bolt upright. "Bad luck? What do you mean by that?"
Chen Wanyue leaned in, speaking in a conspiratorial whisper. "Think about it. The year Mr. Zhao passed away, Zhao Jing was all set to take the examination. But that same year, in the first month, Mr. Zhao went out to visit a friend. On his way back, he slipped on some packed snow and fell into a ditch. By the time Zhao Jing and Mrs. Zhao realized something was wrong and got the villagers to help search, it was too late to prevent the damage."
Mr. Zhao had the frail constitution of a scholar to begin with. He was frozen to the bone and immediately fell into a cycle of high fevers and convulsions, leaving him bedridden for two months.
Because of that delay, Zhao Jing was unable to take the examination that year.
By the time the autumn harvest rolled around, Mr. Zhao was finally well enough to walk around again. It just so happened that a local gentleman was hosting a banquet, and Mr. Zhao attended.
But who could have predicted it? The banquet was held on a riverboat. Mr. Zhao couldn't swim and was prone to seasickness. Perhaps he had too much to drink, or perhaps a gust of wind caught him off balance, but he staggered and plunged right into the river.
It was late autumn, and the water was bone-chillingly cold. To make matters worse, it began to rain afterward, and Mr. Zhao suffered terribly. By the time he was carried home, he was burning up like a furnace. He lingered with a recurring fever for a month before he finally passed away.
Mr. Zhao's death forced Zhao Jing into a three-year mourning period, preventing him from taking the examinations. He had just come out of mourning this year and would finally be eligible to take the Child Examination next year, but then his mother would die, forcing him to observe mourning for another three years.
After that, it was one thing after another: one time, he was struck with unbearable stomach pains right before the examination; another time, his personal verification form was stolen just before he could enter the hall...
For years, bad luck would follow Zhao Jing like a shadow. Everyone who knew him couldn't help but say, "What a pity."
But pity was useless. A person's fate is preordained. No matter how much you strive, if you aren't destined to be an official, all your struggles are just a waste of time.
Of course, in the present, Zhao Jing had not yet completed the mourning period for his father, and his mother was, naturally, still alive and well.
Chen Wanyue had no intention of telling her grandmother that Zhao Jing's mother was fated to die this year.
For one, the matter was too serious. She worried her grandmother might let it slip, allowing someone to discover the truth, which would then lead back to her.
For another, his mother's death would be partly her fault, and her guilty conscience made her reluctant to speak of it.
Chen Wanyue only emphasized again and again to her grandmother that Zhao Jing was plagued by bad luck. Even when he went to take the examinations, he would never make it into the hall, always being stopped just outside for one reason or another.
'His life would be squandered in failure. She couldn't knowingly jump into that fire pit, could she?'